We met at truck pullout on Warrego highway just before Bremer river bridge and headed off in convoy to the Plainland pub for breakfast.
The Plainland Hotel today is a popular meeting place for locals and travellers like us, just as it has been since 1908.
Having a hearty breakfast, as good as any meal that would normally have a daily intake of calories.
It was always in the back of our minds how we could fit in lunch.
So we headed off for a spot of sightseeing, traveling via Murphys Creek to Spring Bluff Railway Station.
Spring Bluff Railway Station today is a heritage listed site is located on the main railway line between Ipswich and Toowoomba. Its significanace stems from 140 years of railway history and the attraction of its beautiful landscaped gardens.
A quick jog around the grounds was in order to work off our Breakfast to make room for lunch
Sorry! I really should have said, (walked around the grounds)
Back in convoy again we headed off to Meringandan Pub on the Darling Downs
Now this pub has the reputation as having the best meals on the Darling Downs bar none
The steaks and sausages and chips are monsters, tender to beautiful.
Following all these good meals it was said that the GT40 cars would need a tyre pressure check before departing back to Brisbane.
There was a comment from one of the members that he would only need to inflate the tyres on the passengers side.
I bet he cooked his own meals for the rest of the week.
The club has had a great year for touring the countryside and exploring places I had previously never heard of.
Would like to thank the organizers and committee for a successful year and look forward to 2012.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and safe motoring
November 2011
Novembers outing started from GT40 Australia’s Yatala workshop where 8 GT40's traveled down to Jacobs Well to spend the morning beside the sea. A hot day with a gentle breeze provided us with an ideal location to observe the boating fraternity launching their boats, a few swimming in the shark enclosure and a couple of people casting fishing lines from the shore.
Disappointed all the ladies forgot their swimmers but so did the men.
After a hearty breakfast and conversations from sorting the worlds problems to whose who and what’s what, we returned to Brisbane before we all dosed off from being so well fed.
August 2011
We commenced our monthly barbecue breakfast get together starting at Yamanto, traveling via the Boonah road to the Mount Joyce Eastern trail head at the newly completed Wyalarong dam.
Our guide did overshoot the turnoff to this new venue but his mistake was quickly rectified with a quick U turn, reaching our destination before empting our fuel tanks.
Eight GT40’s and two support vehicles with fifteen persons enjoyed the serene surrounds of this new facility with its new electric BBQ’s and tables and landscaping.
We inspected the new Dam although access to the dam wall was limited. There was an algae problem with the dam water so no one was allowed to go swimming. (DAM)
Strangely, everyone forgot to take their mountain bikes so no riding on the designated fifty Kms of track was contemplated.
Thanks to Mathew and the Baxter’s, the breakfast was devoured and enjoyed before embarking on our trip back to Brisbane.
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July 2011 AGM
We all met at the Aspley Hypermarket for a departure to Bellbird Grove for our monthly BBQ breakfast, which included our annual AGM.
Surprise! we have an addition to the GT40 family A new car with a number plate "AS WILD" I was wondering who was the wild one. It took someone to explain to me the name was for the car, not the owners I have yet to have this proved Steve and Denise a new purple GT40 Well done
Traveling via Albany Creek to Samford and then onto Mt Glorious road we headed back towards the Gap, where we turned off on the road to Bellbird Grove. Bellbird Grove is large area with numerous barbecues tables and car parks. There are walking tracks in the area which go past some old gold mines with placards explaining the history in this area.
Arriving early gave us a prime area to park our nine GT40 cars all together in one line.
Mathew and the Baxter family quickly unpacked the cooking utensils cleaned the BBQ and first off the hot plate was Mathews prized pancakes. This was followed by the BBQ sausages, bacon and eggs and fried tomatoes. Sweets included fresh pineapple, strawberries and watermelon.
Thank you Mathew for all the work involved from purchasing the food and cooking for us during the year. There is also a thank you to Phil and Kay for supplying the gas to heat all these goodies.
Our AGM started with reports from the President, Secretary and Event Coordinators.
All positions were then made vacant and elections for the new committee members were made. Without surprise all the positions were filled by the previous committee as we believe, when you are on a good thing, you stick to it.
There was a special thank you to Des and Judy Waugh of Charanda Systems P/L who sponsor our web site.
After a bit of chit chat and some who walked the walks, we returned to our cars and with and audience of onlookers we roared off back to Brisbane.
Guess whose GT40 makes the most noise when in a valley surrounded by trees and bush???
We commenced from the GT40 Australia factory at Yatala. 6 GT40's in total and the barbecue wagon. It was an uneventful trip down to Southport down the freeway, arriving at the park beside the swimming pool only to find Captain Bligh was setting up for the Gold Coast Marathon the following week, and had taken over the whole area.
After circulating through the park and finding somewhere to turn around, we decided to go to the Spit. We didn't quite make it there. I spotted some barbecues and tables just along the Broadwater a few hundred metres with enough parking spots for our group and decided to pull in. After setting up the barbecues we all had a good time, before the crowds started rolling in as there was lots of activity going on around us.
The 40's attracted plenty of attention along the main road, with quite a few cars reverse parking and taking photos with the cars. One of the photos has one of the tall Gold Coast buildings for a comparitive angle.
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Macleans Bridge at Lakeside Raceway
Sunday 15th May we gathered at the Aspley Hypermarket at the ungodly hour of 6.15am for the short run to Lakeside Raceway to attend the annual sports car display put on by the local Triumph Sports Car Club
A change of venue and date proved successful as the display and crowds were larger than expected.
Also the chance of driving around this famous racetrack after the venue lured many more display vehicles
We had a beautiful sunny day with a few of us getting a touch of sunburn
Eight Gt40's from our club all parked in a perfect straight line was a wonderful sight
To gain this straight line our president directed us to spend a great deal of time perfecting this feat, half empting each of our fuel tanks.
The day ended with the presentation of trophies and congratulations to Ken in his red GT40 for winning the
Best Presented Replica of the day
Ken was a dissserving winner against the high standard replica's of Cobra, Lotus, Clubmans,Westfields and many more.
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David Hack in Toowoomba
Sunday 1/5/2011 we met at the truck inspection area just before the Bremer river at the ungodly hour at 6.45am to travel to Toowoomba to be part of the display at the David Hack Classic Meet at the Toowoomba Airport. An enjoyable trip up to the top of the range enjoying a cloudless sky and warm conditions. A surprise when we notice on the trip a Ford GT on the tail of our convoy It was Bruce from Roma who joined us for the rest of the day. After a quick emergency toilet stop at the "top of the range lookout" we proceeded to the airport We were given a prime position in front of the hanger to display our cars. Congratulations to Bruce who took the trophey for the best presented sportscar
February GT40 outing was a breakfast run to Mary Cairncross Park at Maleny.
We met at the Aspley Hypermarket for a 0715 departure.
We traveled up the freeway to the Glasshouse Mountains and then to Maleny and Mary Cairncross Park for a barbecue breakfast.
A scary moment When leaving the Hypermarket liquid was seen pouring from underneath one the cars. Was it oil water or fuel?
It was fuel as he had just topped up the fuel tanks and the fuel was seen coming from the fuel tank overflow. This may have been caused by hard acceleration when leaving the car park but of course the driver denied these accusations. With normal driving no more fuel was observed coming from under his car.
We were also told there is a Club member who has a GT40 ready for the final engineering inspection and then registration. Will we see a new car at the next meeting?
We had a record attendance with 12 GT40s and two Cobras and of course the Food Wagon. We were presented with a delightful breakfast of juice, pancakes, sausages, bacon, eggs and tomato followed by a fruit platter. Again thank you to the Baxter Family
Breakfast was at The Lighthouse Restaurant in Cleavland where we had an attendance of 14, all around one table. Attendance was down due to a number of people still on their summer holidays. I forgot my camera so there was no photos taken.
We all shared in wishing everone a happy new year and bogged into a delightful breakfast
November’s meeting was a trip to see the Bowden collection of cars at its secret location in Buderim.
This weekend was to be the last visiting rights to had of this collection of cars in this location.
They are negotiating purchasing the Big Pineapple tourist attraction of the Sunshine Coast where they will have more room to display their historic racing cars. We were told that negotiations were under way to incorporate other genuine race car collections in Australia and place them all under this one roof.
This would make it a world wide attraction but as Dan Bowden our guide said, there is a lot of work needed to bring the site up to the required high standard.
The attraction for us was the genuine GT40 chassis number P1034
Dan our guide made this the last car on the tour guide (leaving the best to last).
The GT40 was started and after a short warm up we had the experience of hearing it roar at peak revs.
Oh what an experience to hear the Windsor 289 in all its glory
The sad news is:
An offer has been made and is being negotiated for the sale of P1034 from an overseas buyer.
Sadly this means Australia would loose a genuine racing car icon and a part of the GT40 history.
Seeing so many race cars with each having its own story and place in Australian Motor Racing Car history made this a day never to forget.
Thank you to Dan Bowen for his exhaustive commentary and explaining the history and stories attached to each individual car. Thank you Greg for the photo's
October’s meeting started at Yatala with eleven cars traveling on a short trip into the Tamborine National Park. The park has been recently upgraded and the site is being well maintained with clean BBQ’S and sealed walking tracks.
Traveling into the site our cars had to wade across a low level brook. The brook turned into a waterfall cascading into numerous water holes. There were a few keen swimmers braving the cool waters but we were quite content not to join them, but to watch them.
We have a new GT40 car present on its maiden virgin voyage from the South.
Colin has had his car recently road registered and it is now ready for painting. We all inspected Colin’s handiwork and there was something a little different with the build.
A tool box mounted under the rear clip. Well done Colin and we look forward to the next stage of when it is painted (secret – I heard the colour maybe red)
It was also good to catch up with Bruce who traveled from Roma in his Ford GT.
Bruce’s car always captures our interest as the modernized version of our GT40, s
Peter showed us his new Delanda Sports Car. With doors that swing upwards when opening he will not have any problems getting into his car when in tight parking spots. Welcome to the club Peter.
September’s event started at the Aspley Hypermarket with the star attraction of the day, Peter and Fay Fox arriving in their new silver GT40. With its gleaming new paint and in a show pristine condition the car was admired so much that we were late departing for our breakfast outing. Well done Peter and Fay, this car is a credit to you both.
We traveled via Dayboro to Mt Mee and into the National Park for our BBQ breakfast.
The views and the sights are one of the highlights of this trip but care was necessary on the narrow road with cyclists who sometimes do not allow for passing traffic.
As per normal the feast was delicious and again thanks to Mathew and the Baxter’s.
We had time to undo the front clip of Peters and Fays GT40 to admire his handy work and surprise. Who says that a GT40 has no luggage space?
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